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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Takuo Hirota" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <miyokowang@yahoo.cn>
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:44:08 -0700
Subject: Greetings!!!

Greetings,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before.
I am Takuo Hirota from Mizuho Corporate bank(Japan).

I have an urgent business proposal for you with matching surname with the deceased depositor who died during the Japan Tsunami quake that devastated North-East Japan.
I made some personal search on the internet to come up with your name.

Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested

Your Response should be addressed directly to my private email below for more details.

Regards
Mr.Takuo Hirota
Private Email:hirota.takuo@yahoo.cn
Mizuho Corporate bank(Japan)

Anti-fraud resources: